THE PALAS OF BENGAL. 107 



conquest of Bihar and Bengal. 1 Govindacandra advanced as far as Monghyr in the year 

 1146 a.d. and granted the village of Tatacavada in the Pandala Pattala, in Govisa- 

 loka, that belonged to Dudhali in Saruvara, to a Brahmana named Thakkura Srldhara, 

 after bathing in the Ganges at Mudgagiri (Monghyr) on the occasion of the Aksayatr- 

 tlya, on Monday the 3rd of the bright half of the Vaisakha of the Vikrama year 1202, 

 the 15th April, 11 46 a.d. 2 Govindacandra was most probably leading an expedi- 

 tion into Bengal when he bathed in the Ganges at Monghyr, 

 Beao . al ' and granted the village mentioned above. The expedition 



was no doubt unsuccessful, because, otherwise, the event 

 would surely have been mentioned in some Gahadavala inscription. The use of the era 

 of Laksmanasena in two inscriptions at Bodh-Gaya 3 prove that in spite of the efforts 

 of the Gahadavala Kings Eastern Magadha continued to be in the possession of the 

 Senas up to 1193 a.d. Most probably the river Son was the boundary line of the 

 Gahadavala and the Sena Kingdoms. 



Laksmanasena, the son of Vallalasena, ascended the throne in 11 19 a.d. He 

 was an energetic and able ruler like his grandfather Vijayasena. In the lifetime of his 



T . father he led an expedition into Kalihga. 4 After his acces- 



Laksmanasena. r ° 



sion to the throne he defeated the King of Benares, i.e., 

 Govindacandra, in battle and conquered Kamarupa. 5 In the copper-plate grants of 

 his sons, Kesavasena and Visvarupasena, he is said to have planted a pillar of victory 

 on the shores of the Southern Ocean, which most probably means that he defeated 

 some Southern King in battle. Nothing is known about his length of reign, but his 

 kingdom consisted of Eastern, Western and Northern Bengal and the eastern part of 

 Magadha. It is also probable that part of Mithila was included in his kingdom. 



Four copper-plate inscriptions and one stone inscription of this king has been 

 discovered up to date. The earliest of these is the Tarpandighi Grant, found in 1874 

 at Tarpandighi at Gangarampur in the Dinajpur District. It records the grant of the 

 village of VilvahistI in the Paundravardhana bhukti as the daksina of the Golden 

 Horse and Chariot ceremonies {HemaSva-ratha) to a Brahmana named Sri Isvara 

 Sarmman. 



During the reign of Laksmanasena the western part of Magadha seems to have 

 passed into the hands of the Gahadavala Kings of Kanauj . The local rulers practi- 

 cally acquired independence, as an example of which we may cite the name of the 

 Mahanayaka Pratapadhavala of Japila. The earliest record of this generation is a 

 short rock inscription near the Tutrahi Falls in the Shahabad District, the date of 

 which corresponds to 19th April, 1158 a.d. 6 According to an unpublished inscrip- 

 tion at Rohtasgadh, the King set up some monuments on the 27th March, 1169 a.d. 7 

 In the same district, there is another rock inscription at Tarachandi incised in the 

 Vikrama era 1225, corresponding to 1169 a.d. According to another inscription at 

 Rohtasgadh, the family to which this dynasty belonged is called Khayaravala VamSa 



1 Tabakati-i-Nasiri, Trans, by Raverty, p. 550. « Epi. Ind., Vol. VII, p. 98. 



8 Cunningham's Mahabodhi, p. 78, and Ind. Ant., Vol. X, p. 346. 



* J.A.S.B. (N.S.), Vol. V, p. 467. 6 Ibid. 



8 Epi. Ind., Vol. IV, p. 311. 7 Ibid., Vol. V, App. p. 22, No. 152. 



